IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v35y2017icp36-45.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What drives consumers' online information search behavior? Evidence from England

Author

Listed:
  • Dutta, Champa Bati
  • Das, Debasish Kumar

Abstract

This paper examines the factors determining consumers' online information search behavior in the context of buying laptop and mobile phone. We measure, how search behavior is perceived in terms of total search, number of search and cognitive ability. Using survey data on 643 respondents from London and Birmingham we test several hypotheses. The result of both OLS and generalized estimating equation portray that search efforts are directly related with education and internet experience and inversely related with income and internet cost. Moreover, analysis of the proportion of online search to total search signifies the substitution of online for offline information sources. The obtained result provides an improved understanding of the determinants of search behavior and important implications for seller of laptop and mobile phone who are seeking to expand their online customer base.

Suggested Citation

  • Dutta, Champa Bati & Das, Debasish Kumar, 2017. "What drives consumers' online information search behavior? Evidence from England," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 36-45.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:35:y:2017:i:c:p:36-45
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2016.10.015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698916301400
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2016.10.015?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stahl, Dale O., 1996. "Oligopolistic pricing with heterogeneous consumer search," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 243-268.
    2. John Mc Breen & Florence Goffette-Nagot & Pablo Jensen, 2010. "Information and Search on the Housing Market: An Agent-Based Model," Post-Print halshs-00945969, HAL.
    3. Wilde, Louis L., 1977. "Labor market equilibrium under nonsequential search," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 373-393, December.
    4. Zhou, Jidong, 2009. "Prominence and Consumer Search: The Case With Multiple Prominent Firms," MPRA Paper 12554, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Mark Armstrong & John Vickers & Jidong Zhou, 2009. "Prominence and consumer search," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 40(2), pages 209-233, June.
    6. Brian T. Ratchford & Debabrata Talukdar & Myung-Soo Lee, 2007. "The Impact of the Internet on Consumers' Use of Information Sources for Automobiles: A Re-Inquiry," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(1), pages 111-119, March.
    7. Asher Wolinsky, 1986. "True Monopolistic Competition as a Result of Imperfect Information," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(3), pages 493-511.
    8. John Mc Breen & Florence Goffette-Nagot & Pablo Jensen, 2010. "Information and Search on the Housing Market: An agent-based Model," Post-Print halshs-00587528, HAL.
    9. Yuxin Chen & K. Sudhir, 2004. "When Shopbots Meet Emails: Implications for Price Competition on the Internet," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 233-255, September.
    10. Martin Sefton & Abdullah Yavas & Eric Abrams, 2000. "An experimental comparison of two search models," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 16(3), pages 735-749.
    11. Simon P. Anderson & André de Palma, 2012. "Competition for attention in the Information (overload) Age," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 43(1), pages 1-25, March.
    12. Kulkarni, Gauri & Ratchford, Brian T. & Kannan, P.K., 2012. "The Impact of Online and Offline Information Sources on Automobile Choice Behavior," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 167-175.
    13. Simon P. Anderson & Regis Renault, 1999. "Pricing, Product Diversity, and Search Costs: A Bertrand-Chamberlin-Diamond Model," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 30(4), pages 719-735, Winter.
    14. John Mc Breen & Florence Goffette-Nagot & Pablo Jensen, 2010. "Information and Search on the Housing Market: An agent-based Model," Post-Print halshs-00587707, HAL.
    15. Hey, John D., 1974. "Price adjustment in an atomistic market," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 483-499, August.
    16. Singh, Sonika & Ratchford, Brian T. & Prasad, Ashutosh, 2014. "Offline and Online Search in Used Durables Markets," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 90(3), pages 301-320.
    17. Park, JungKun & Chung, HoEun & Yoo, Weon Sang, 2009. "Is the Internet a primary source for consumer information search?: Group comparison for channel choices," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 92-99.
    18. Louis L. Wilde & Alan Schwartz, 1979. "Equilibrium Comparison Shopping," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 46(3), pages 543-553.
    19. John Mc Breen & Florence Goffette-Nagot & Pablo Jensen, 2011. "Information and Search on the Housing Market: An Agent-based Model," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1395, European Regional Science Association.
    20. Weitzman, Martin L, 1979. "Optimal Search for the Best Alternative," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(3), pages 641-654, May.
    21. Stahl, Dale O, II, 1989. "Oligopolistic Pricing with Sequential Consumer Search," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(4), pages 700-712, September.
    22. Steven Salop & Joseph Stiglitz, 1977. "Bargains and Ripoffs: A Model of Monopolistically Competitive Price Dispersion," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 44(3), pages 493-510.
    23. Stigler, George J., 2011. "Economics of Information," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 5, pages 35-49.
    24. John Mc Breen & Florence Goffette-Nagot & Pablo Jensen, 2010. "Information and Search on the Housing Market: An Agent-Based Model," Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, in: Marco Li Calzi & Lucia Milone & Paolo Pellizzari (ed.), Progress in Artificial Economics, pages 153-164, Springer.
    25. Brucks, Merrie, 1985. "The Effects of Product Class Knowledge on Information Search Behavior," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, June.
    26. Glenn Ellison & Sara Fisher Ellison, 2009. "Search, Obfuscation, and Price Elasticities on the Internet," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(2), pages 427-452, March.
    27. Burdett, Kenneth & Judd, Kenneth L, 1983. "Equilibrium Price Dispersion," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(4), pages 955-969, July.
    28. Srinivasan, Narasimhan & Ratchford, Brian T, 1991. "An Empirical Test of a Model of External Search for Automobiles," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 18(2), pages 233-242, September.
    29. R. Manning & P. B. Morgan, 1982. "Search and Consumer Theory," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 49(2), pages 203-216.
    30. Manning, R, 1976. "Information and Seller's Behaviour," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(27), pages 308-320, December.
    31. Diamond, Peter A., 1971. "A model of price adjustment," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 156-168, June.
    32. David, Douglas D & Holt, Charles A, 1996. "Consumer Search Costs and Market Performance," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 34(1), pages 133-151, January.
    33. Ambarish Chandra & Mariano Tappata, 2011. "Consumer search and dynamic price dispersion: an application to gasoline markets," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 42(4), pages 681-704, December.
    34. J. Yannis Bakos, 1997. "Reducing Buyer Search Costs: Implications for Electronic Marketplaces," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(12), pages 1676-1692, December.
    35. Beatty, Sharon E & Smith, Scott M, 1987. "External Search Effort: An Investigation across Several Product Categories," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 14(1), pages 83-95, June.
    36. Clemes, Michael D. & Gan, Christopher & Zhang, Junli, 2014. "An empirical analysis of online shopping adoption in Beijing, China," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 364-375.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xu, Jiayi & Zhang, Xiao-Bing & Liu, Yang, 2024. "Asymmetric search behavior for gasoline prices: Evidence from the Chinese gasoline market," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PB), pages 699-712.
    2. Weiqing Li & Qianyi Dan & Maomao Chi & Weijun Wang, 2021. "Influence of Price Level and Perceived Price Dispersion on Consumer Information Search Behaviour: Moderating Effect of Durables and Consumables," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-13, February.
    3. Bag, Sujoy & Tiwari, Manoj Kumar & Chan, Felix T.S., 2019. "Predicting the consumer's purchase intention of durable goods: An attribute-level analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 408-419.
    4. Nur Hazwani Zolkifly & Nur Lailatul Husna Mohammad Yusof & Shahrel Nizar Baharom, 2017. "Promotional Methods Taken by Car Dealers: An Investigation of Traditional Marketing and Online Media in National Car Showroom," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 7(11), pages 1462-1472, November.
    5. Wei, Zhiyong & Dou, Wenyu & Jiang, Qingyun & Gu, Chenyan, 2021. "Influence of incentive frames on offline-to-online interaction of outdoor advertising," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    6. Cankun Wei & Meichen Fu & Li Wang & Hanbing Yang & Feng Tang & Yuqing Xiong, 2022. "The Research Development of Hedonic Price Model-Based Real Estate Appraisal in the Era of Big Data," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-30, February.
    7. Vrânceanu Diana-Maria & Țuclea Claudia-Elena & Țigu Gabriela, 2020. "Price search behaviour in digital markets – A perspective from Romania," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 15(2), pages 219-235, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gamp, Tobias & Krähmer, Daniel, 2022. "Biased Beliefs in Search Markets," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 365, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    2. Hämäläinen, Saara, 2018. "Competitive search obfuscation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 38-63.
    3. Richards, Timothy J. & Hamilton, Stephen F. & Allender, William, 2016. "Search and price dispersion in online grocery markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 255-281.
    4. Cason, Timothy N. & Datta, Shakun, 2006. "An experimental study of price dispersion in an optimal search model with advertising," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 639-665, May.
    5. Martin Obradovits & Philipp Plaickner, 2023. "Price-Directed Search, Product Differentiation and Competition," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 63(3), pages 317-348, November.
    6. Jose A. Carrasco & Rodrigo Yañez, 2022. "Sequential search and firm prominence," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 74(1), pages 209-233, July.
    7. Fershtman, Chaim & Fishman, Arthur & Zhou, Jidong, 2018. "Search and categorization," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 225-254.
    8. Lindgren, Charlie & Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Rudholm, Niklas, 2021. "Pricing In Retail Markets With Low Search Costs: Evidence From A Price Comparison Website," HFI Working Papers 18, Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut).
    9. Makoto Hanazono & Noritaka Kudoh, 2024. "Prominence And Market Power: Asymmetric Oligopoly With Sequential Consumer Search," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 65(3), pages 1249-1281, August.
    10. De los Santos, Babur, 2018. "Consumer search on the Internet," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 66-105.
    11. Moraga-González, José L. & Sándor, Zsolt & Wildenbeest, Matthijs R., 2014. "Prices, Product Differentiation, And Heterogeneous Search Costs," IESE Research Papers D/1097, IESE Business School.
    12. Andrew Rhodes & Jidong Zhou, 2019. "Consumer Search and Retail Market Structure," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 2607-2623, June.
    13. Yongmin Chen & Tianle Zhang, 2018. "Entry and Welfare in Search Markets," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(608), pages 55-80, February.
    14. Wilson, Chris M., 2010. "Ordered search and equilibrium obfuscation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 496-506, September.
    15. Kathy Baylis & Jeffrey Perloff, 2002. "Price Dispersion on the Internet: Good Firms and Bad Firms," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 21(3), pages 305-324, November.
    16. Cason, Timothy N. & Friedman, Daniel, 2003. "Buyer search and price dispersion: a laboratory study," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 112(2), pages 232-260, October.
    17. Haan, Marco A. & Moraga-González, José L. & Petrikaitė, Vaiva, 2018. "A model of directed consumer search," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 223-255.
    18. repec:smu:ecowpa:1301 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Obradovits, Martin, 2017. "Search and segregation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 137-165.
    20. Jidong Zhou, 2020. "Improved Information in Search Markets," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2264R, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Jun 2022.
    21. Alexandre de Cornière, 2016. "Search Advertising," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 156-188, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    D01; D12; D83; Information search; Consumer behavior; Cognitive score; Online market;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:35:y:2017:i:c:p:36-45. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.